Fort Collins local Georgia Gould cruises through the finish line second, behind Katherine Compton, on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012, during the US Gran Prix of Cyclocross in Fort Collins. / Dawn Madura/The Coloradoan

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Coloradoan staff

The Fort Collins resident won the Olympic bronze in mountain biking in London. She took the bronze in the world championships and defended her national cross country championship in Sun Valley, Idaho, in June.

For her accomplishments Gould was named as the 2012 North American Mountain Bike Woman of the Year by VeloNews.

Gould, 32, won the first American medal in Olympic mountain biking since 1996 when she captured the bronze in August on the Hadleigh Farm course. It was a redemption ride for the Baltimore native who suffered through heat exhaustion at her previous Olympics at Beijing in 2008.

She battled for the bronze in the world cross-country championships in September in Austria to cap her mountain biking season, which saw her nearly win a pair of World Cup races in June.

Gould, who has never won a World Cup, cramped while in the lead at the World Cup in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada in June. She finished just 23 seconds behind world champion Catharine Pendrel.

In Windham, New York, a week later, Gould led with 1K to go, but she suffered a flat tire and was passed by Pendrel and LUNA teammate Katerina Nash in the final 25 meters, to finish third.

Gould has now turned her attention to the cyclocross season. In October, she finished second in the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross Smartwool Cup in Fort Collins and last weekend, Gould took second in the USGP Deschutes Brewery Cup in Bend, Ore., to win the final overall USGP of Cyclocross standings.